One Mode of Expression, a barbershop quartet made up of members, from left, Brent Scudder, Frank Gould, Steve Flanders and Joe Tofel, perform at a dedication ceremony for a bench in memory of Elmer Brown, a long-time member of the group, at Thetford Elementary in Thetford, Vt., Tuesday, July 14, 2021. Over 100 people attended the event to remember Brown, who died in 2019, which also included a Marine honor guard and music from two more acapella groups from the Hanover chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
One Mode of Expression, a barbershop quartet made up of members, from left, Brent Scudder, Frank Gould, Steve Flanders and Joe Tofel, perform at a dedication ceremony for a bench in memory of Elmer Brown, a long-time member of the group, at Thetford Elementary in Thetford, Vt., Tuesday, July 14, 2021. Over 100 people attended the event to remember Brown, who died in 2019, which also included a Marine honor guard and music from two more acapella groups from the Hanover chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Barbershop music rang out at a dedication ceremony for a bench in memory of Elmer Brown, who loomed large in the Thetford community before his death in 2019. Over 100 people turned out to the Thetford Elementary School event honoring Brown, who worked in nurseries around the country before establishing E.C. Browns’ Nursery in Thetford in 1967. He also served as a captain and assistant chief of the Thetford Volunteer Fire Department and as a trustee of Thetford Academy and the Timothy Frost Church. Brown was also a founding member of the North Country Chordsmen and a longtime member of One Mode of Expression, which performed at the ceremony.